On Whores and Rakes

On Whores and Rakes

Or rakeback, more precisely. If you haven’t checked out World Poker Exchange yet, shame on you, or shame on your bankroll. There aren’t any cool referral codes, no goodies through the fine folks at PSO or PokerSavvy, no deposit bonuses of any kind, actually. So why bother, you ask? Well, I’m glad you asked, young whippersnapper!

There’s no rake.

No really, there’s no rake.

Actually, there is. All hands are raked normally, but you are refunded 100% of your rake on a weekly basis. That equals to ALL OF IT. Now I’m no poker genius, or even a Geek or Nerd, but I knows money. And 100% rakeback is quite possible the best deal going. You get paid to play, period. If you play 10 raked hands, you get back whatever rake you contribute. If you play 1000 raked hands, you get back more. I’ve put in a whopping 90 minutes at the $50 NL level so far, and I’m looking at $8 and change coming back. That’s a pretty decent chunk coming back home, so I’m pretty stoked about it. The paradigm has always been that the lowest limits are unbeatable because of bad play and rake; well one of those factors is now completely gone.

Yes, the traffic is low. Yes, the interface is less than stellar. No, I don’t really care, because I get back all of my rake, and the more that people hear about it and try it out, the more people will be on there playing rake-free, and the more fishies we’ll find. Right now the games are decent, at least from my super-limited sample size. I was able to be profitable, and that, coupled with 100% rakeback will keep me playing at least a part of my time there for the foreseeable future. And I owe Tripjax a shout out for telling me about it. Thanks, man.

And I’ve been trying out a bunch of new sites lately, what with bonus whoring through the nice folks at PokerSavvy (click the link on the right and we both come out winners!). I’ve finished my bonus requirements at Sun Poker, but will likely keep a little money there because they have a $40/month for 200 raked hands ongoing bonus, and the games were soft like butter. I finished my bonus requirements at 7 Sultans in one night, proving it to be pretty easy to clear, but I doubt I’ll keep a lot of money there because I kinda hated the interface and the deposit bonus is almost impossible to clear (something like 600 raked hands for $20 of bonus, no thanks). I’ve been donking around on Titan with the $10 they sent me for free, and if I can ever get any traction there I’ll probably withdraw pretty quickly because the interface is just sooooo bad.

So I’ve been of two minds on bonus whoring since I started playing the poker. One, deposit bonuses are good ways to pad the bankroll, as long as you’re a decent player to begin with. On the other hand, if you’re extremely profitable at PokerStars, why would you take time away from a site that’s making you a boatload of money to play on a site that has fewer fish and may not be as profitable? 100% rakeback aside, that’s a good point. Most of my play is on Stars or Full Tilt. I try Party every now and then, but I’m the only person in the world that can’t string together two winning sessions there, so I only venture into that fishpond occasionally.

I started this last round of bonus whoring because I wanted free Nevada Jacks chips. So I signed up for Pokershare, finished out my PSO bonus slightly ahead, and then dumped the site. Then I decided I wanted to use these bonus chances to get free money, so I signed onto Sun and 7 Sultans, to earn a $100 Party Poker gift certificate. Sun was very profitable, and I came close to breaking even at Sultans.

But the sweetest rakeback or bonus deal in the world won’t make up for a losing player. If I’m playing like rancid ass, it doesn’t matter if I’m getting hookers and blow delivered straight to my house for every 50 raked hands, I’m still gonna go broke. So that’s my only cautionary tale from my recent whoring around, you still have to play solid poker. No matter how many people have told you that the players on Titan are the stupidest players in the world (but they still kick my ass), if you’re not playing your best game, the deposit bonus isn’t going to help. If you’re lucky, really, really lucky, you’ll be able to use the deposit bonus to keep you even when you’re done clearing it. And that feels kinda like kissing your sister (or her donkey). It’ll get you through the night in a pinch, but it is not what you’re looking for on a good day.

That may have been pointless. Oh well, at least I got to talk about whores without needing a shot afterwards.